


The Nick of Time

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Star Wars, Episode IX: The Edge of Darkness [3]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Hux is Not Nice, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, Other, POV Luke Skywalker, Rey Skywalker, Torture, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, attempted execution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 02:29:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12902022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: An attempted execution, and a rescue.





	The Nick of Time

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: So this isn’t my best action scene. Let’s say I was both blocked and really not looking forward to writing torture, so...yeah.

Entering Snoke’s _Liberator_ , Luke couldn’t help but think back to when he went onboard that ship with Alora if only to rescue Ben from Snoke. That had been six years ago, but it felt like a lifetime ago. And now, he was onboard this ship, being escorted to his inevitable execution.

He didn’t want to die. Not now, not like this. He simply couldn’t. There was no death, there was the Force, but that didn’t exactly alleviate the horrible anticipation of pain. What sort of pain would be in store as well.

He headed towards the antechamber with Kylo Ren, feeling for all intents and purposes like he was headed to his death, and Kylo Ren was his guide.

There was a crowd gathered there, and General Hux stood at the front. Luke glared at him; now he had a face to put to the name of the man who had destroyed the Hosnian system, the man who had caused so much pain when he had done it. Kylo Ren didn’t say anything, but the hand on his back...

Luke could swear that his nephew regretted everything that was about to happen. Everything. The way that it was pouring out of him, the way that it radiated...his nephew didn’t like it any more than Luke did. Then again, was there anything about this that his nephew did like, Luke wondered.

Hux cleared his throat. Then, “People of the Resistance, you continue to stand alone.”

Not alone, Luke thought, but he didn’t say it out loud. Instead, he glared at Hux, even as the General continued on with his speech that sounded almost like he was trying too hard to be important, intimidating. He was nothing in the end, Luke thought. Nothing, pathetic...

After what seemed like too long, Hux finished, and turned towards Ren. “Well, Ren, what are you waiting for? Purify.”

The first slice of a vibroblade against skin hurt. Kylo wasn’t doing it, but the hand on Luke’s back was bad enough. It was almost like a restraint in and of itself. The crowd jeered and roared and practically went berserk, and Luke wondered if they really knew what exactly they were cheering for. Or maybe they did, and they didn’t care.

The crowd roared again and again. “Purify. Purify. Purify.” Again and again, an awful sound, ringing in Luke’s ears. That had been how other Jedi had been executed in the past.

Luke looked up at Kylo Ren, and he swore that there was a tinge of sorrow in those too expressive brown eyes. Just a tinge, just a speck of Ben in there, but it was enough to make Luke reach out to it, vainly grasp at it.

“Ben...” He rasped it out even as the vibroblade cut through flesh again. “There is...still good in you. I know there is...still...”

Bleeding. He was bleeding. Blood was flowing from his cuts, and Luke could feel hot fluid sliding down his back. Too much hot fluid, actually. His hands were cuffed, and he could swear that he saw Alora’s face, flickering out of the corner of his eyes. 

“ ‘Lora...” Was she there? Was he just going mad? 

And it was then that he felt it. The Falcon, touching down on the Liberator. Footsteps, running footsteps. It was Rey. Jaina. 

“Father!”

 Luke looked up at Kylo. At Ben. There was a speck of good in him somewhere; he knew it full well. Even as Jaina freed him, even as they ran back to the Falcon, fighting off crowd members all the way, Luke promised himself that no matter what happened, he would come back for Ben. 

 


End file.
